VOLUME 1  ISSUE 5  AUGUST 2013 “Insider Tips To Make Your Business Run Faster, Easier, And More Profitably” The 4-Letter Word That Increases Cash Flow And Saves On Taxes “As a business owner, I know you don’t have time to spend on technology and performance issues. That’s where we shine! Let us help put an end to your IT problems finally and forever!” - Kevin Gray, EnvisionIT Solutions Inside this Issue: 4-Letter Word PAGE 1 If you dread writing checks for a network upgrade because it hits your cash flow in a big way, then you’ll want to look into HaaS or “hardware as a service.” HaaS is becoming a more common option for businesses because it allows you to pay for ALL your IT services – hardware, installation, security, backups, applications, Internet, etc. – as a flat fee service, thereby eliminating the heavy cash-flow hit for upgrading or expanding a computer network and giving you the ability to write off 100% of your IT expenses without having to depreciate those assets over time. Additionally, your IT provider takes total responsibility for the maintenance of your network. Shiny New Gadget PAGE 2 Bring Your Own Device PAGE 2 10 Ideas to Succeed PAGE 3 Struggling Butterfly PAGE 4 Client Spotlight— Sawmill PAGE 4 HaaS is particularly popular with startups who need to direct the majority of their cash towards marketing, but many businesses are opting for HaaS over installing a traditional network because: 1) No More Expensive Surprise Upgrades. With HaaS, your computer s ar e automatically replaced with new ones every 3-4 years, ensuring compatibility with almost any software refresh. No end-of-lease buyouts of outdated equipment or ever having to release equipment again. 2) Warranties Are A Thing of The Past. With a HaaS pr ogr am, you get your equipment AND the service included in the monthly cost. Anything that goes wrong with the computer (like the inevitable computer crash just days after your warranty expires) is our problem to resolve. Plus, since HaaS computers are replaced on a regular schedule, you don’t have to settle for refurbished parts or old computers for long. 3) One Easy Invoice. Pur chasing via a HaaS pr ogr am is like having a condo. You get control of what goes in it, but don’t have to worry about maintenance, building code issues, or updating the façade. Everything in one low monthly fee. Looking to upgrade equipment while saving cash? Call us to learn more about HaaS and find out if it’s right for you. 505-923-3388 Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At Our Web Site: www.envisionITsolutions.com Page 2 Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: Magic Wand Universal Remote Harry Potter might be over, but your magic show is just beginning. This is no ordinary universal remote control. The Magic Wand Programmable TV Remote will learn up to 13 commands from your existing remote controls and map them to particular magical motions. The Wand can learn from any remote in your house, and once you master its 13 movements, you can mastermind a symphony of electronic enjoyment from the comfort of your couch. With a little practice you can flip the channel with a flick of your wand and twist your wand to turn up the volume. It’s compatible with almost all makes of TV, DVR, or really anything with a remote! No more boring channel changing, now you can be the wizard you’ve always dreamed of being! Bonus—this one is a lot easier to hide from the kids than a regular-sized remote. You know you want one...learn more and order yours at www.thinkgeek.com. Bring Your Own Device To Work: Excellent Money-Saving Idea Or Security Disaster Waiting To Happen? Maybe you’ve heard the term “BYOB” (bring your own bottle) when you were invited to a party with some friends. Now a similar trend is happening in business called “BYOD” (bring your own device) where employees are bringing their smartphones, tablets and other devices to work. Considering the cost of new hardware, this trend seems pretty attractive for small business owners. Employees show up already equipped with the devices they need to work; you just give them a username and password and you’re off to the races without as many out-of -pocket expenses as before. Plus, the employees are more than happy because they get to continue to use their device of choice. Cool? Maybe… Based on surveys and chatter online from IT managers and executives, how to effectively monitor and manage employee-owned devices is murky at best; in many cases, this “wild west” device strategy is causing IT departments to work overtime to keep their network secure and data out of the wrong hands. For example, IBM started allowing employees to BYOD back in 2010. Approximately 80,000 of their 400,000 employees started using non-company owned smartphones and tablets to access internal networks. But instead of IBM saving money, this situation actually increased costs in certain areas, namely in the management and security of those devices. Because of this, IBM has established guidelines on which apps the employees can or can’t use. In addition, employee-owned devices are configured so that they can be wiped remotely in case devices are stolen or misplaced prior to being granted access to internal networks. Cloud-based file-transfer programs such as iCloud, Dropbox and even Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant, are not allowed. Employees with greater access to internal applications and files will also have their smartphones equipped with additional software that performs the appropriate data encryption. The bottom line is this: If you ar e going to allow employees to use their own personal devices to connect to your network, you need to make sure they aren’t a conduit for viruses, hackers and thieves; after all, we ARE talking about your clients’ and company’s data here! That means written policies need to be in place along with 24/7 monitoring of the device to ensure that security updates are in place to watch for criminal activity. We also urge you to establish a policy for all employees who bring mobile devices into the workplace about what they can and cannot do with their devices. They might already be using their smartphone or tablet to access e-mail or company files without you even knowing it, leaving you exposed. For more information on how we can monitor and manage ALL the devices connected to your network, give us a call: 505-923-3388 Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At Our Web Site: www.envisionITsolutions.com Page 3 The Lighter Side… Never Argue With A Woman One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book. Along comes a game warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, “Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?” “Reading a book,” she replies, (thinking, “Isn't that obvious?”) “You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,” he informs her. “I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading.” “Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up.” “For reading a book?” she replies. 10 Ideas You Need if You Want to Succeed 1. Do what you need to do now so you will eventually get to do what you want to do later. 2. Discipline is the ability to get things done regardless of how you feel about doing them. 3. Passion only pays off when channeled into productive effort. 4. Others may believe in you, help you and support you, but ultimately nobody will do it for you. You are responsible for your own life. 5. If you don’t do your job any differently than anybody else who does it, you won’t get paid more than anybody else. 6. More often than not, you succeed in spite of, not because of, your circumstances. 7. If you think a little better and work a little harder you will always accomplish more than others. “You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,” he informs her again. 8. If you can’t control it, get over it. “I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading.” 9. If you don’t appreciate where you are at, you won’t appreciate where you are going. “Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up.” “If you do that, I'll have to charge you with Sexual assault,” says the woman. “But I haven't even touched you,” says the game warden. 10. Get clear on what really matters to you and then get busy pursuing it. If you want more insights into how to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, go to Mark’s site at www.marksanborn.com “That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.” “Have a nice day ma'am,” and he left. Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At Our Web Site: www.envisionITsolutions.com Page 4 The Struggling Butterfly Client Spotlight: Sawmill Community Land Trust A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body. Neither happened! In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand: The restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us. We will not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly. “Sawmill Community Land Trust is a nonprofit membership organization that owns and holds land “in trust” for the benefit of the community while preserving the affordability of the housing on the land permanently. All the while, homeowners on the land trust enjoy essential benefits of ownership: lifetime security, a reasonable rate of return on their investment and a legacy for their descendants.” www.sawmillclt.org EnvisionIT Solutions has been contracted by Sawmill Community Land Trust to upgrade their existing server infrastructure. This project will consist of hardware upgrades, migration of email services to Office 365 and implementation of Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Services Server. This project will be completed over a weekend to minimize productivity downtime. Sawmill is looking forward to the new technology to better serve their employees with remote access tools and by cutting costs on email maintenance with moving all email functions to the Office 365 platform. With Sawmill being a nonprofit entity, the Office 365 platform works best due to a very generous price discount from Microsoft. Sawmill employees will have remote access capabilities to email and file storage through this product along with new features of remote communication by using Microsoft’s Lync product. We look forward to implementing this project and a long term business relationship with Sawmill to fully utilize technology to better their organization and their members online performance. Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At Our Web Site: www.envisionITsolutions.com